HIST3217 Racism in the United States 1785-1915 part 2

Module Overview

Between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries a powerful new idea emerged in the West: race. According to this ideology, human beings could be divided into biological groups - ‘races’ - determining both moral character and intellectual ability. Ideas of race were particularly powerful in the United States: white Americans constantly proclaimed their own racial superiority in order to justify racial slavery, the removal of American Indians from their homelands, and the segregation and disenfranchisement of African Americans. Whites, however, did not have a monopoly on racial thought; African American intellectuals had their own ideas about race, celebrating African history and championing black culture. This module will trace the development of racial thought in the United States between the American Revolution and World War I, examining the relationship between culture, politics, and society. Throughout the module we will also look at ideas of class and gender and consider their relationship to the concept of race. Why were working-class northerners seen as especially racist by contemporaries? And how did the lynching of black men help to subordinate white women?
Part 2 will pick up the story with the Civil War, the emancipation of the enslaved, and the subsequent reconstruction of the South. We will look at the ways in which race was used to justify the segregation, disenfranchisement, and lynching of African Americans. We will also examine: the work of African American intellectuals who expressed pride in black culture; the white fascination with “voodoo”; the use of race to advocate as well as condemn American imperialism; the ways in which race figured in the early-twentieth- century eugenics movement.

Module Details

Semester:

Semester 2

CATS points:

30

ECTS points:

15

Level:

Level 6

Module Lead:

David Cox

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

The historiography of race in the United States (and West more generally)

The development over time of ideas of race in the United States

The nature of political, social, economic and cultural changes occurring in the United States from the Civil War to WWI.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Conduct independent research and formulate arguments based upon this research

Use public-speaking skills to present findings in a clear and convincing fashion

Work effectively as part of a team (in order to both present findings during the seminar and discuss ideas with fellow students)

Manage time effectively and meet deadlines

Write fluently and accurately

Work well in high-pressure situations (examination)

Conduct research online and use PowerPoint (and similar programs)

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Deconstruct ideas of race and gender

Trace the development of racial thought in nineteenth-century America

Critically evaluate the relative importance to the historical process of culture, economics, and politics

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Critically evaluate the work of different historians and relate various arguments to their historiographical context

Research independently and form arguments based upon this research

Engage in the close reading of documents

Empathise with alien concepts and ways of thinking

Syllabus

• Lynching: race and gender
• The Carlyle School: “civilizing” American Indians
• Representations of black culture and “folklore”
• Race and Empire: the United States, Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines
• African American intellectuals and race
• The eugenics movement in the United States
• World War I, anthropology, and the decline of race thinking

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include:
• Seminar discussion
• Small-group discussion
• Source analysis
• Student presentations
• Student debates
• Student-led seminars
Learning activities include:
• Preparation for class (including both required and independent, further reading of secondary material)
• Close reading of primary material: identification of significant themes and ability to place primary sources within their proper context
• Seminar discussion and debate
• Presenting findings to seminar group and working with peers during student-led seminars
Discussion in seminars will help you to develop your ideas on a topic, to analyse a range of source material and to articulate a critical argument.